In Need of You

Chapter Seven

"Slow down, Elisha," Amber yelled. She closed the car door behind her and ran toward him as he walked on one crutch toward the front door of his house. She cursed under her breath. Mom should have been the one to take him home. 

"Don't worry, sis," Elisha said. He stumbled, then regained his balance.

Amber folded her arms and watched her older brother fumble the keys around in his hands. Why the hell was he so damn stubborn? She already had to deal with dad's personal vendetta against the world. She didn't need Elisha's too. 

"Seriously, Amber, I've got this. I'm not trying to take up all your time," Elisha said. He opened the door and limped inside. 

A loud thud caught Amber's attention. She ran inside the house and flicked on the light. The sight of her brother underneath the body of a tail-wagging Labrador Retriever made her smile. She walked over to the smiling dog and shooed her away from her daddy. 

"So, you don't need my help right," Amber said, reaching her hand down to help her brother off the ground. Tugging him up, she struggled. Elisha may have looked lean and had some muscle tone, but he sure was packing away the extra hamburgers and fries somewhere. "My God! What do you do? Tell the weight not to show, but you still weigh a ton anyway."

Elisha glared at her from the corner of her eye. "I'm a healthy thirty-two-year-old man. What do you expect?"

Amber watched her brother walk to the grey leather sectional couch and ease down onto one of the cushions. She sighed, then let her shoulders slump as she took in the calmness of the pale blue walls in his living room. Pictures of the family hung about in floating frames on the walls. Two large windows surrounded the French Doors leading to his outdoor patio. A dragon plant sat in a rustic green pot. Its leaves extended toward the doorknob. She watched Daisy claw at the door. 

She opened it, watching the dog dash into a flock of worm slurping robins on the ground. Every time she visited her brother's house she always found herself feeling less stressed than when she arrived there. Amber sat next to her brother and rested her head on the back of the couch. "I think it's time I moved out of mom and dad's house. I am twenty-two now."

He glanced at her still holding the remote in his hand. "Mom's going to have a problem with that."

"This I know all too well, Eli," Amber said. "I just want them to know that I can stand on my own two feet."

"Trust me. I had to beg mom to let me move out at twenty-three. I know she's going to lay an egg with you."

Amber looked around the open living room. It flowed seamlessly with the kitchen she envied so much. She loved how the pale blue of the living room lent itself to the light grey color scheme of the cabinets and island of the large kitchen. The natural light shining in from the window above the kitchen sink made her sink further into the couch.

She glanced at her brother who was falling asleep with the remote in his hand. He hadn't slept that good in a while, she thought. For the past ten years, Amber could recall how often he came over to mom and dad's house to take a nap when he was working a double at the precinct. But, that was Eli. He worked harder than most men she knew. Hell, he worked harder than dad ever had in his life. Though he had a shit load of money waiting for him at Brysen Real Estate and Construction, she knew her brother wasn't going to bend over backward to take it. 

Yet, dad insisted that he take the throne. He's never stopped really. For that matter, dad had been trying to get her to work under Elisha as the manager. Since dear ole dad knew how good of a manger she was over the marketing department at Briar Lane College, he wanted her to make certain that the people stayed in line while getting their needs met. Of course, that was going to no brainer for her to take the job, yet she didn't want to do with her dad still over the helm. 

The buzz of a phone threw her off her train of thought. The name Sabrina flashed as it rang. "Eli," Amber said. She reached over and tapped her brother on the shoulder. "There's a Sabrina calling you."

He jumped from his slumber and grabbed his phone. Never in her life had she seen her brother react so quickly to a call. He never reacted this fast when his captain called him. He'd let the phone ring a full minute before he answered. 

"Hey, Sabrina," Elisha said. 

Amber glared at her brother, seeing him smile. She tilted her head like a puppy. Who on earth made Eli smile like he was a little schoolboy on the playground? Thinking about the name, she remembered mom telling her that he had a girlfriend named Sabrina. Amber made pucker faces and wrapped her arms around her own body. 

Elisha threw the remote at her. Catching it, she stuck her tongue out at him. As she rose from the couch, she noticed Daisy clawing at the door to get back into the house. The sudden fall of rain had hampered her outside playtime. 

Turning around, she noticed Elisha wasn't sitting on the couch anymore. Even the crutch was still lying where he left it. God, he was so damn stubborn. Maybe if he'd been hit by a truck, then that would have gotten his attention. She watched him hobble down the hallway, holding the phone to his ear. Nope. That wasn't going to change a damn thing about Elisha. 

Her phone began to play the melodies of Ed Sheeran's Shape of You. Picking it up, she saw Daniel's bright smile. She knew if she left her brother, mom was going to have her head in a basket. A pink one at that. 

"Hey, honey," she said. She walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. She looked inside for that orange soda she left last week. He couldn't have gotten to it that fast. "How have you been?"

"I'm great. I'm about to get off work soon. I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight?"

"I would love to, but you know my brother just got out of the hospital, and my mom has placed me on babysitting duty," she said. 

"Does he mind any company? I could bring dinner there."

Amber sighed. That's what she loved and hated about Daniel. He didn't know when to ever stop. "Um, I don't know if my brother will be up for it."

"Up for what?" Elisha asked, standing behind his sister.

Amber jumped from her flats, leaving them scattered about on the floor. "You asshole. You scared me."

"I didn't do anything, Amber," Daniel said over the phone.

"I wasn't talking to you, honey," Amber replied. She glared at her brother with squinted eyes. "I was talking to Eli."

"Oh, man!" Daniel said. "Tell bro I said what's up, and tell him to stop lurking."

Elisha smiled and waved a hand. "Tell Daniel that I would love dinner. Besides, I've got to take my meds anyway. Can't take them on an empty stomach."

"What about Sabrina? I thought you were too busy making smoochy faces with her," Amber said, covering the phone with her hand. 

"Nope. She wanted to know how I was doing. That's all." Elisha walked out of the kitchen and back to the couch. 

Amber frowned. This was going to be the longest two weeks of her life. The hardest in fact.